Color me unimpressed with Jon Stewart's interview with Sen. John McCain on last night's Daily Show (click & hunt for video). On the one hand, it was nice to see McCain, who is used to the press corps lapping up his empty talking points like dogs in from the desert, getting confronted with the ridiculousness of his recent statements on Iraq. On the other hand, Stewart's performance was rather weak. Instead of letting McCain twist in the wind by juxtaposing his statements with reality, he simply talked over him, not letting him respond. It seems like Stewart does that fairly often with people he disagrees with, including Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and talking head Bill Kristol.
He took a much better approach back in 2004 when he exposed the fact that Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX) had absolutely no idea what he was talking about by constantly calling John Kerry the most liberal member of the Senate. Of course, you can't let someone expose their own ignorance, willful or otherwise, if you don't let them get a word in. In the Daily Show's headlines segment, the funniest segments are those in which he lets news figures hang themselves with their own words. Stewart should apply that to the interview portion of the show.
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